THE Farnham Repair Café has diverted nearly 400kg from landfill through more than 100 repairs within its first year of operation.

Established in February 2015 by the Centre for Sustainable Design at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and local initiative Transition Town Farnham, the Repair Café meets monthly in Farnham’s United Reformed Church and encourages locals to ‘share the repair’ by bringing along damaged items in need of restoration.

The Repair Café has seen more than 400 attendees over its 11 sessions.

Electrical and textile-related products have been the most repaired items, but the team of repairers – made up of local volunteers and staff from UCA and Transition Town Farnham – have also worked on bicycles, furniture, baby strollers, and vacuum cleaners.

“My very first repair was a hardly used electric lawnmower,” said Steve Privett, a Farnham resident and volunteer at the Repair Café. “Other volunteers gathered around and helped to disassemble the machine to find a snapped drive belt.

“An internet search and a phone call located a suitable replacement and the mower sprung back to life bringing a big smile to our faces. I thought to myself: it’s always good to save a life, even when it’s a lawnmower’s!”

In addition to repairing items, the Repair Café also has a ‘creative zone’, giving attendees the chance to explore new ideas around customising and the up-cycling of new products.

The Saturday morning sessions also look to provide product owners with a greater understanding of how their product works, with an insight into why repairing is a better solution to recycling or binning an item.

“A successful repair should increase the useful lifetime of a product, therefore diverting waste from landfill,” said Professor Martin Charter from UCA’s Centre for Sustainable Design.

“The Repair Café has been really well-received and it operates as a place to socialise and network, adding to Farnham’s identity as a crafts town.”

The international Repair Café movement launched in the Netherlands in 2009 and there are 18 Repair Cafés in the UK. The Farnham Repair Café is supported by a steering board and funded through donations and ad-hoc grants.

• For more information, visit the Farnham Repair Café’s Facebook page online at www.facebook.com/FarnhamRepairCafe.